Obligatory Invite
by Two Leaf Clover
Summary: [Set in Modern AU] - - - With the holiday season upon them, Kinomi sets out to deliver a holiday dinner invitation to Naruto. Although she succeeds in her quest, she finds herself helping out a little more than she intended. ( Naruto x Kinomi / Naruto x OC ) (More of a friendship Oneshot than a ship oneshot ) I hope you enjoy!


**A/N: This is a story for Naruto and Kinomi - their current relationship standing where it is presently in the story. If you don't know who Kinomi is, please feel free to check out her story [ "The Boy Called Trouble" ]. You DO NOT have to read that story to enjoy this one, but it does add more context into some of the mentions and events. **

**Thank you! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was that time of year again, when the air was cold and the grass was frosted, the brisk air rolling over branches coated in a clear, frigid ice, and breath chilling over when parting from one's lips. The nearby area -little more than a few homes and stores, but mainly apartment complexes- had its ground lightly dusted with a layer of snow already, more threatening to fall from the cloudy sky as the day went on.

Braving the circumstances, a young brunette walked through the sheet of white, leaving footprints trailing her as she did so.

She was bundled appropriately, a tan down-vest atop her cream sweater and a chocolate-colored scarf woven and tied comfortably around her neck. In her likewise chocolate gloves, she gripped a cup of tea with one hand, and a red-envelope sealed with a Christmas wreath sticker. "Hmm Hmm Hmmm~..." She hummed seasonal jingles, practically -but carefully- skipping up the steps leading up to one of the specific apartment doors.

"Open up~," She playfully called in sing-song tone, knocking lightly on the door a few times, "I'm here to deliver your invite~!"

The brunette stepped away from the door, tipping her head and waiting calmly for the time it took, even appearing amused as she noticed she could hear the heavy footsteps running haphazardly to the door. It took but a few minutes for the door to be opened, a somewhat lethargic and confused blond poking his head out of the door. "Invite..?"

"Don't tell me you forgot..." Her eyes shifted to look at the boy that had jut his head from the apartment door opening, her expression slowly becoming more and more exasperated. She took note of his unruly bangs and the -admittedly cute, yet- misplaced walrus cap. "Naruto..." She murmured quietly, sticking out her hand to try in vain to fluff his hair into a neater placement, "Did... You didn't just wake up, did you..?"

"..." His eyes narrowed slightly, as if trying to find whether or not he should answer truthfully, "I... I MIGHT HAVE."

"It's noon... Is this all you do when school's out..?"

"Well- no!" he quickly piped up in his defense, "I just didn't have anything to do today! And I did _a lot_ yesterday. It's just an extra couple of hours!" He sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck, unknowingly ruining his case.

"Either way," She abandoned her attempts at scolding him, merely giving a subtle, yet amused roll of her eyes. "Yes, invite." She held out the red envelop, waiting until he accepted it before offering the cup of tea as well, "and a delicious cup of tea with a sweet hint of peppermint~. It's a staple from our place around this time of year."

"Hmm..?" He hummed thoughtfully to himself, holding the cup around the festive green cloth. He took a subtle whiff of the beverage, huffing out after he inhaled a bit of the steam, "Mm... That smells good..."

"Of course~," She proudly responded, folding her arms and somewhat poking her chest out, "Nothing but the best from us."

"Oh- but! What's it an invite for?" It seemed the bit of sleep was finally wearing off as he shook his head a little and glanced up at the honey-eyed girl, "You had asked if I'd forgot or something, but what was I supposed to be remembering..?!" He couldn't recall her mentioning them doing anything that day... unless he had just not paid attention or something...

The brunette sighed softly, setting her hand on her hip, "Silly. We're supposed to be doing a little Christmas gathering - a family thing, and since our little agreement..."

The blond genin seemed taken aback, staring at the girl, mind seeming dazed in light of the information he was receiving. He remembered that - not that it was actually very much of an 'agreement' more so a sudden claim of revenge followed by a list of demands and no chance for a rebuttal. Still, it sounded tempting...

_'I can't remember the last time I did a Christmas thing...' _He could guess there was that one time Iruka had brought him a present for a little early Christmas exchange, but never a really celebration.

"Naruto..?"

"H-huh?" he was snapped back to his thoughts as he was addressed, and looked up to the brunette that seemed to stare at him both confused and concerned.

"What's that smell..?"

"Gah! Crap!" The boy scrambled inside, leaving the door ajar as it was whilst he quickly ran in to attend to what he had left behind.

A pot sat on the stove-top, smoke pouring from the spaces between the pot and top until he quickly removed it, plumes of smoke now spouting out, "I didn't leave it that long! No way! How did it start burning already?"

"There really is no way," She huffed in reply, having let herself in and taking the liberty of shutting off the burner where he had fall short. "If you were filling the pot for literally anything, it wouldn't have been able to boil out that fast... Are you sure you put water into the pot?"

"..." He paused, shifting his gaze to multiple places around the room whilst contemplating further on the matter. He had just really woken up by the time she came to the door, and things from before he really got his energy up were kind of hazy. He was pretty sure he put the water in the pot... but... could he _really_ be sure...? "Hey, Kinomi..." He quietly began, turning to face the girl as she casually set about airing out the place and seeing to minimizing the burns in the pot, "Your family agreement stuff wouldn't happen to mean breakfast too, would it..?"

"Ehhh..." She looked behind her, brow hiked as she poked out her cheek. If this were in regards to the restaurant she helped out with, she would have been delighted to invite him for breakfast, but they were closed for Christmas. If he wanted breakfast from her, she would have to do the cooking here.

Sighing in resignation, she offered a mild shrug of her shoulders, though the gesture allowed sight of the amused smile that had made its way back to her face, "I guess so. T'is the season, after all."

"Yeaaaahaha!" He clenched his fists, a goofy, fox-like grin spreading across his face, "Alright!"

"I swear, you're too eager," Kinomi muffled her own amused chuckles, tugging open the doors to his cabinets and pantry, "Let's see what ingredients you've got-..." Her honey-colored eyes locked onto the shelves, staring in disbelief as majority of the space was taken up by packets and cups and bowls of different sorts of ramen. "You've got to be kidding me..."

She toyed with the ends of her caramel ponytail, twirling the strands with her fingers as she watched Naruto, who seemed to have no problem with this development whatsoever, "Naruto is this the only thing you've got in the house..?"

"Uh...For... now?" He shrank a bit under the somewhat motherly stare of the slightly older girl, "I had some other stuff and a carton of milk but uh-." He paused, narrowing his eyes in recollection, "I had a little trouble with that so I don't really touch the stuff anymore!"

Kinomi rubbed her fingers against her temples, closing her eyes while attempting to massage away her headache, "Do you have any idea how much sodium is in that? You're supposed to eat it sparingly!"

"Well it's quick and easy to make and it tastes good! If I could eat ramen every single day I would, believe it!"

"I don't believe it..." She reached into the pantry, pulling out a couple of the cups and sighing softly, _'At this point, the only thing I'm really doing is the cooking, and even that isn't much. It's Instant Ramen.' _Her eyes traveled back over to the side, seeing Naruto alternating between watching her and watching TV, all while taking occasional 'gulps' of the peppermint tea. _'I guess it's alright... since he doesn't seem to mind...' _

She opened them carefully, peering at the standard noodles and flavoring inside, then hummed to herself whilst gently tapping her lower lip, _'Now how do I spice up instant ramen... It's like a chef's challenge...' _

Much like a kid, Naruto kept shifting his attention, curious enough to keep watching yet also distracted by the tea and the television. He took another sip of the tea, smacking his lips as he looked at it, practically peering into the small opening hole in the cup. It was his first time having peppermint tea, and while it was admittedly tasty, he wasn't sure how he felt about the after-effects. It was the strangest mixture between a steaming hot and a chlling cold.

"Hmn..." He thought to himself, though while diverting his attention to the pocket of the cup, his attention was caught by the settling of a tray affront him on the tabletop. "Huh?" he thoughtlessly uttered, looking down at the two cups.

"Oh boy!" He set the tea aside without a second thought, reaching and scooping up the instant ramen and a pair of chopsticks. He chuckled uncontrollably to himself whilst plucking the two apart. He'd been starving!

"I hope you don't mind I grabbed one for myself too." She added, settling her knee down on the cushion beside him and proceeding to sit atop her shin while carefully taking the cup of instant-ramen in question, "And boy, did it take a lot of doctoring up to make it not feel like a 'just-add-water' recipe."

His gaze shifted as she said this, blue eyes lithe with both curiosity and confusion, "What do you mean...doctoring up..?" He parroted back. His fingers now hesitated to raise the lid, pausing until he got an answer on what he was going to be expecting.

"Just did some tweaking - and it was really hard too!" She turned, eyes taking on a new light, "It was a real challenge trying to make something out of that with the stuff you had, but I think I made it work~!"

The boy's blue eyes stared fixated on Kinomi as she went on, his brows knitting together for a second as he processed. "So then..." He trailed hesitantly, peeling the top up hesitantly to peek inside. Steam and the aroma of egg wafted out from under the lid, causing him to huff a sample of the scent before ripping the top off completely. Drool peeked form the corner of his lip as he noticed the various additive ingredients - the egg and thinly sliced pork. He didn't know he had pork... well maybe it was so thin because he didn't have much... "Wait, I th-" He was beginning, about to speak up about the 'sodium' she had been going on about.

Rather than complete the sentiment, he stopped flat upon seeing Kinomi turn as if ready to hear him out. If he mentioned it, she probably would try to find some kind of alternative of take it out. Immediately, instead, he ungracefully replied, "NEVERMIND!" and stowed a mouthful of the ramen in his mouth.

"Mmph!" He powered through the hot dish, slurping up as much as he could possibly stow in his cheeks and choking it down like pretty much everything else he ate.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" He finally got out, face somewhat flushed from choking down the steaming hot food, and yet he seemed not to be bothered. Kinomi, on the other hand, was entirely bothered, staring at him as if he needed assistance of one kind or another. Beads of sweat littered the back of her head, but somehow she managed to simply laugh it off.

"Heh," She proudly huffed up, the beginnings of a confident smirk tugging at the corners of her lips, "If you think that's good, wait until tonight!"

"My dad's a pro in the kitchen - he outcooks me and my mom any day! I'm telling you..."

As she went on speaking, Naruto, despite watching her as she did so began to hear her words get further away. He found himself getting lost in his own thoughts, something about the whole ordeal striking something with him. He knew not to get all worked up about what somebody thought about him - People had hated him for years.

Still, things were just starting to feel like they were changing, and the idea of experiencing all of that all over again sent uneasy weights pressing into his stomach. He unconsciously gripped his stomach, grasping a handful of his shirt cloth.

"Hm?" Kinomi's eyes shifted, looking down to his stomach, then back up to him. She quickly set the cup of ramen off to the side, turning to him fully and tipping her head down to get a better look at his distant face, "Hey... Naruto? What's wrong..? Stomach ache or something..? Probably from eating too fast..."

"Hah..?" He looked up, sluggishly at first, then with a goofy grin that was only half of his normal spirit. "No!" He held the cup idly, not exactly eating more, but also not moving to set it down elsewhere. "Hey."

"Yep?" She replied, having begun to notice a trend; that hey typically meant there was something he was dwelling on that he wanted to ask - whether something dumb or something actually really important or intelligent. "What is it?"

He squirmed in his seat, averting his gaze for a moment until he felt better adjusted in his place, "What are your parents like?- Or wait, I mean! How's this whole Christmas thing gonna go? What do I do?"

Kinomi immediately caught sight of the problem. Her lips curved up ever so gently into a warm smile, her eyes closing as well as if she were trying to think properly. "Well..." She mused aloud, softly and carefully. Her honey eyes opened, turning to him as she tipped her head once more to try making eye contact. She had a maternal air about her normally, but in this particular case, a certain compassion came from her tone, "We eat together, spend some time with one another, and maybe listen to a few of those catchy Christmas jingles - that's about what we do."

"That's- not... what I meant." He interrupted himself, though continued on, just not as brashly as he initially intended to. This whole thing felt unnecessarily embarrassing; asking questions like that made it feel like he came off looking for something or seemingly like he was willing to opt out.

"Hmmm..." She hummed again, "Well my parents - they're really nice people. In my opinion... they may even have a little too much love to give." She reached over, gently placing her hand atop his head and ruffling it through the walrus cap he still wore, "But mooost importantly, they accept people for who they are... even blonde knuckleheads like you."

"Hey!" He interjected roughly, triggering full-on laughter from Kinomi.

Even though it was a simple reply, something about the way she said it made him believe it. He relaxed back a bit, exhaling the air he had unknowingly pent up. Despite the playful tone that followed her reply, he was tempted to loose the 'thank you' on the tip of his tongue, until -

"Geez, Naruto, I didn't think you'd be so worried about this~!"

"I wasn't worried! I was just curious! That's all!"

"Suuuuure!"

Offering a broad, toothy grin, she uttered the breathy remnants of her last little snicker, "Well, curious or worried, you've got nothing to worry about. You'll be just fine."

He held firm to the stubborn, bratty pout that took over his lips, but as if unable to keep it at bay a second time, he quietly muttered, "...Thanks."

"Hmm~? What was that?"

"Nothing!"

**A/N: Just a little thing! Less romance, more friendship, since I decided to take this story from the perspective of their current relationship in the fanfiction. I think they're pretty cute, but I can't wait to get into their actual romance pieces. I Also really enjoy that at this point, they're kind of gradually getting used to each other in their friendship.**

**I had fun with this~! Thanks for reading, everyone! OH!**

_**P.S. I have a poll up on my profile to ask who I should write for next! I have a list of canons, their OC ships being unlisted, and whoever you guys chose will be the one I will begin writing a new focused story for (similar to The Boy Called Trouble for Naruto and Kinomi)!**_

_**Your opinion is super helpful! Thank you!**_


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